Together with The Art Institute of Chicago, Metro and Smart Bar are pleased to present Summer Sounds, a Friday evening music and performance series during the months of June, July, and August, in conjunction with the Sound & Vision, a series of multi-sensory contemporary art and lively, provocative events. On Friday, July 30th, Metro and Smart Bar present Gard(en)Counter with DJs Kid Color, Nate Manic and Bald E.

Curated by the staff of Metro / Smart Bar, Gard(en)Counter offers the recent history of musical styles in Chicago, beginning with the 1980s, that helped shape and grow Metro and Smartbar into Chicago music institutions. Dive into disco, house, techno, industrial, alternative, indie rock and electro, from 1982 to present day, with DJs Kid Color, Nate Manic and Bald E, plus a visual presentation. Gard(en)Counter will take place in the Pritzker Garden and Griffin Court in the Modern Wing. The event will take place from 9pm to midnight. Tickets are $8 for member of the Art Institute and $10 for non-members.

Since the dawn of Dubstep in Chicago, Smart Bar has been a leader, bringing artists to the club on Thursday nights and providing a place for the genre to thrive and grow. Distinguishing itself from its UK Garage and Grime predecessors, Dubstep tracks differ in style by a heavy emphasis on Sub-Bass and a distinct half-time structure. Although initially adopting the spacious minimal aspects of Dub Reggae, it now incorporates elements of many other genres, such as Hip Hop, Drum & Bass, Techno and Breaks. Dubstep DJs who have made their mark on Smart Bar crowds in the past several years have included Caspa, Skream, Benga, 16 Bit, Excision and Rusko. Now, due to the success of Thursday Dubstep nights, Smart Bar officially introduces two new Dubstep resident DJs for 2010 – Chris Widman and Phaded.

Smart Bar is heading north to Detroit for the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, celebrating with an Opening Night party on Friday, May 28. In homage to the hometown of techno, Smart Bar will present a celebration of techno and tech house music with artists Stimming, Ellen Allien, Patrick Russell, Aran Daniels and Nate Manic. The party, presented in conjunction with Proper Modulation of Detroit and Bad Advice Inc. of Chicago, is the hottest kickoff to DEMF weekend. It all takes place at Detroit’s historic Majestic Theatre, located at 4140 Woodward Avenue in midtown Detroit.

Martin Stimming was born in Giessen, Germany, and began playing violin, piano and drums when he was just ten years old. After discovering electronic music, and then the techno genre, as a young teen, he soon started to buy vinyl and DJ in the town he lived in, Butzbach. It became quickly apparent that for him making music was more fulfilling than “just” playing a groove, or mixing a record, so he started to take his production seriously and moved to Hamburg to attend the School of Audio Engineering. He was the producer of Gebrueder Ton for two years, and met Diynamic, a record label from Solomun and Adriano. Soon, he made his own debut on Diynamic Records with Diynamic 006 Feurervogel EP, and since 2004 he has continually released albums. There is plenty more to come, from this talented young producer.

New pop punk hopefuls, The Status, started the night with a quick 30-minute set. The single, “Perfect Day,” was the song that stuck in my head; it will be interesting to see where these gents end up over the next few years.